


Monster

by starrynightfantasies



Category: Halloween (Holiday), Jotun Loki - Fandom, Loki laufeyson - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Loki-the-Fox, Trick or Treating, writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-07-27 18:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrynightfantasies/pseuds/starrynightfantasies
Summary: This story is for @Loki-the-Fox writing challenge. The prompt is "How do you know so much about monsters?"





	Monster

Loki still didn’t understand Midgardian holidays. 

One of them was dedicated to worshiping hearts and flowers. Another date was set aside for deliberately losing- and  _ finding _ badly decorated boiled eggs and paying homage to a giant rabbit. Then there was Halloween- the holiday where everyone dressed in strange clothing and invaded others’ dwellings to beg for sweets. 

That was where Loki found himself- wandering the streets of New York on Halloween night. 

The Avengers had harangued him and insisted that he go out to “experience the excitement,” as they put it, while they readied the tower for their annual Halloween party. The only caveat to the whole situation was that he’d been forced to go out in his natural form. Stark wanted him to have fun on Halloween, but he didn’t want anyone to actually recognize him.

As he roamed up and down the streets, Loki tried not to feel self-conscious. After all, everyone around him thought he was wearing some type of costume. He began wondering why Midgardians didn’t simply go out and purchase their own sweets if they were having such unavoidable cravings. Then he thought of Thor inhaling an entire box of the soldier’s Pop-Tarts and realized that he might be the only one who felt that way.

Stark had mentioned that Halloween was a bit different in the city than it was in more rural areas. Instead of going from door-to-door as some children did on television, the children and adults in the city attended various events together. Loki had absolutely  _ no _ intention of attending some ridiculous haunted house that night. He only wanted to observe the festivities, if he could call them such.

It was nice being out of the tower for a while. Though he was allowed to leave now, he didn’t do so often. Casting an illusion over himself and keeping it up was tiring, and he had yet to find anything in New York City that captured his attention for long enough to expend that kind of energy. Unfortunately, on this night, he hadn’t been able to forget about his appearance for long. Every store window he passed reflected his red eyes and pointed horns, and every time he breathed out, his breath left frost in the air. Perhaps the  _ heroes _ were all having a good laugh at his expense at that very moment. He knew for a fact that Tony could watch any camera on the street from his computer.

  
  


A child, no older than about six, who was dressed as some sort of medieval warrior, ran up to him and breathlessly yelled in his face, snapping him out of his reverie. 

“ _ Woah _ ! Nice contacts! Here’s some candy!” 

Loki blinked and took what was offered to him. Before he had a chance to say anything back, the kid was gone. Evidently, he wasn’t as frightening as he’d thought. Either that, or Midgardian children were exposed to far more frightening things these days. He opened his hand to find two of the tiniest chocolate bars he’d ever seen. Perhaps Halloween wasn’t so bad after all? 

As he continued to walk down the street, he noticed that there were fewer parents accompanying children. The children seemed far less excited as well. They looked hungry- desperate, even. For what, Loki did not know. Their costumes were shabby; as if they were wearing the same ones from the previous year, or even one their older siblings wore. Their faces were slightly dirty, and they had the hard expressions of many of the adults he’d seen. They were wearing the worry lines of people with far more life experiences than they should have at their age. Loki wondered how life could change so drastically from one block to the next. It was as if someone had dropped wealth and good fortune on the families he’d seen on the previous few streets, but this street had been forgotten. This street had been left behind.

 

"Is that a monster?"

Loki heard a tiny, feminine voice squeak. It was a bit muffled, and he thought it was coming from an alley, which he hoped was not possible. 

"No, Sophie. He's just wearing a really cool costume. Wow...I really like his horns. I wonder how he did that. Just once, I wish I could go out in a costume as cool as that..." 

The voices were still muffled, but Loki realized that they were talking about him. There was no one else around who had horns. He self-consciously reached up to touch one as they continued to talk. 

"Bub, how do you know so much about monsters? How do you know he's not real?" 

The older boy- that's what he sounded like to Loki, anyway- sighed. 

"Real monsters don't look like that, Soph. Real monsters look like regular people. Like Louis. One minute, they're telling you how much they love you. Then, the next second, they're beating the shit out of you."

The young girl spoke up. 

“You mean dad is a monster? Like, a  _ real _ monster?”

"He's  _ not _ our dad. Our  _ dad _ wouldn't do that, Soph."

Loki could hear the boy's desperate protest against this man his sister called 'dad,' and he felt his heart break. He listened as silently as he could, hoping he would hear something positive- something that would make him  _ less likely _ to find this  _ Louis _ and kill him.

"Sophie, you know our real dad is...not coming back, right? He left. Just like all the others. This one is just the next in a long line of losers," the boy's tone changed to one of strained cheerfulness, "that's why I got us out of there! I promise we'll find somewhere to go soon. But we can't go back now. He'll kill us both." 

Loki paused, hiding behind a dumpster while he listened to the rest of their conversation. He didn’t know why he was so invested in the two children, especially since there were probably at least four more in the same situation within fifty yards of where he stood. 

“But...where will we sleep tonight?” The little girl-  _ Sophie _ , Loki remembered- whimpered. 

The boy didn’t answer, and Loki knew it was because he didn’t have a plan. His only plan had been to  _ get out _ . 

As Loki stood there listening to the two children talking softly until they fell silent, he tried to think of a way that he could help them. There was no way he could walk away knowing they had nowhere to go. He stepped out from behind the dumpster, but suddenly realized that he was still in his Jotun form. Even though the boy had said he liked Loki’s horns, Loki still envisioned the two children fleeing; screaming in terror the second he tried to speak to them. In his mind, he saw himself towering over them; red eyes glowing in the darkness, sharp black fingernails like animal claws, and frozen breath more terrifying than any dragon’s fire. He closed his eyes against the flood of self-loathing. 

What would be worse? Spending the night on the street in New York, or going home with a potentially terrifying monster? 

Once again, Loki found himself walking toward the area where he’d heard the children’s voices. His heart pounded in his throat as he thought of all the ways this plan could go wrong, but he knew he couldn’t go back to the tower without at least  _ trying _ to help them. As he neared the alley, he knelt down and took a deep breath. 

“Hello? Is someone back there?” 

Of course, he knew there was, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. He couldn’t ask them if they wanted candy. That sounded far too much like something a sexual predator might say.

He heard a tiny yelp, but saw a pair of big blue eyes peering out at him. 

“It’s alright. I won’t hurt you,” Loki whispered. “I know I look quite frightening, but it’s only a costume,” he lied, reaching out his hand. 

“Sophie...who is it?” Loki heard her brother ask. His voice was full of caution, and Loki admired his devotion to the girl. He couldn’t see the boy, but Sophie turned to look at her brother, making horns on her head with her fingers. 

Her brother, who looked to be about seven- if Loki was guessing correctly- stood and blocked Sophie with his own body. Loki suddenly felt as if all of the oxygen had left his lungs. A boy his age shouldn’t be expected to protect his sister. Not like this. Loki stood from his crouched position, holding the boy’s determined gaze, and pulled his hidden dagger from its sheath. Holding it by the blade, he offered it to the boy. 

“I want to help you and your sister, but I know that you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. Take my dagger and follow me. I will bring you someplace safe. If I should somehow betray your trust, I expect you to use that,” he nodded toward the sharp blade. 

The boy eyed the blade hesitantly. 

“Who are you? And how do I know you don’t have another one hidden somewhere else?”

Loki smirked. He liked the boy already. He hadn’t expected to find a Midgardian child that he actually  _ liked _ . 

“They won’t let me have another. I don’t  _ need _ another one.” 

The boy reached out and took the dagger without another word. Taking Sophie’s hand, he nodded to her. “Let’s go, Soph. He  _ says _ he can help us. I guess we’ll see.” 

Sophie looked like she might have been about four years old, but she was so malnourished, she didn’t weigh more than a two year old. Once again, Loki felt a sudden urge to find the man who had treated them so badly and teach him a lesson. 

“So where are we going? And where did you get that costume? And you never told me your name!” The boy spoke as they walked. 

“I’m hungry, bub,” Sophie whispered. 

Loki remembered the candy he had gotten from the other kid, and he held out his hand for Sophie to take it. Her eyes widened, and she smiled.    
“You were right, bub. He’s  _ not _ a real monster,” she whispered. 

When they arrived at the tower, Loki stopped to allow Stark’s fancy computer to do its security scan. 

“We’re going in  _ here? _ This is where Iron Man lives! We can’t go in here!” 

“Bran-don,  _ shhhh! _ ” Sophie poked her brother, rolling her eyes as if she could actually  _ feel _ the way Loki did at that moment. 

 

Loki did his best to remain calm as they took the elevator to the common room. He didn’t know how the team would react to his bringing two recently homeless children into the tower, but at the moment he did not care. They could stay in his chambers, and he would take the couch. The two children were extraordinarily quiet as they entered the room, but it didn’t take long for their little mouths to fall open in disbelief and delight. Apparently, Natasha had decorated the entire room for the Halloween party, and everything was covered in fake cobwebs, pumpkins, skeletons, bats, and witch hats. 

“You  _ live _ here?” Brandon whispered. 

Loki didn’t want to tell the boy that he was technically  _ incarcerated _ there, but he was certain the issue would come up at some point. 

“Yes.” 

 

“Loki? God, please tell me you didn’t actually kidnap these children,” Stark said as he stepped around the corner. 

Sophie looked up at Loki; her eyes wide and bright with sudden realization. 

“Woah! What?!” Steve piped up, running down the hallway and practically skidding to a stop. 

At that point, Brandon took Sophie’s hand and they both hid behind Loki as if they were hiding from the others-  _ not _ from him. 

“What’s going on, man? Are the cops going to be here any minute? And why does that one have your dagger?” Banner asked, calmly as usual. 

Sophie poked her head out from behind Loki’s back. 

“He-- he reccscued us,” she said, nervously mispronouncing her words, “We were hiding and- and he gave me candy.” 

Loki looked at her and gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster. 

“Stark, they were going to spend the night behind a dumpster. I couldn’t leave them. And how else was I going to get him to trust me? I gave him my only weapon so he would know I wasn’t going to do him or his sister any harm.” 

Natasha nodded her head at Stark. “There’s an open room across the hall from mine. I’ll go get it ready.”

“No. I want to stay with  _ him _ ,” Brandon protested, pointing at Loki. 

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise, but to Loki’s utter dismay, he agreed. 

“They obviously feel safe with you, so why not set them up in there for the night? We can figure the rest out in the morning.” 

Loki could  _ feel _ Brandon’s sigh of relief from behind him, but he did not understand how the child could possibly trust  _ him _ when they were in the same room with none other than Captain America and Iron Man. 

 

Both children were asleep within minutes of settling down, and Loki wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He had given them as much food as they could eat, made sure they both took a bath, and tried his best to make them feel safe with everyone in the tower. As he sat in his armchair next to the bed, Tony rapped on the door frame. 

Loki rolled his eyes, but nodded for the metal man to enter. 

“What’s the deal, Reindeer Games? Feeling paternal?” 

“I overheard the boy talking about this man, Louis. He abuses them. Brandon took his sister and left the house. They had no one. They had nowhere to go. They would have starved to death or been sold into some kind of-- I don’t know… some ridiculous thing Midgardian mongrels do for fun.” 

Tony nodded solemnly. “We’ll take care of them.” 

As Tony started toward the door, he turned around abruptly. 

“I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Loki knit his eyebrows together. “I was a father once, Tony. And I know what it’s like to be a child and want  _ out _ .” 

 

 

~One Year Later~

 

  
“Loki, can you make me some fairy wings?” 

Sophie was dancing around the common room, swinging her arms and singing her question. She and Brandon were so excited for Halloween, it was actually contagious. Even Loki was dressing in a costume for them. 

“Absolutely, my dear. What color would you like?” 

She smiled, “Green,  _ of course! _ ” 

“I want to be blue...with horns… and red eyes,” Brandon said, waiting his turn.

Loki was using his magic to give them the  _ best _ costumes in the city. 

“You--want to look like  _ me _ ?” 

Brandon smiled. “Yeah! That was the coolest costume I had ever seen! Plus, you saved our lives… you’re like, our hero.” 

 


End file.
